How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits ye shall know them… Not everyone that saith to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name, and cast out devils in Thy name, and done many miracles in Thy name? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity. Every one therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock. [1]
Every heresy has its own “spirituality,” its own characteristic approach to the practical religious life. Thus, Roman Catholicism, until recently, had a clearly distinguishable piety of its own, bound up with the rosary, the “Sacred Heart,” the “Blessed Sacrament,” and the like; and a careful Orthodox observer could detect in such aspects of modern Latin “spirituality” the practical results of the theological errors of Rome. Fundamentalist Protestantism, too, has its own approach to prayer, its typical hymns, its approach to spiritual “revival”; and in all of these can be detected the application to religious life of its fundamental errors in Christian doctrine. The present book is about the “spirituality” of Ecumenism, the chief heresy of the 20th century.
Until recently it appeared that Ecumenism was such an artificial construct, such a syncretic conglomeration of heresies, that it had no spirituality of its own; the “liturgical” agenda of Ecumenical gatherings both great and small appeared to be no more than an elaborate Protestant Sunday service.
But the very nature of the Ecumenist heresy—the belief that there is no one visible Church of Christ, that it is only now being formed—is such that it disposes the soul under its influence to certain spiritual attitudes which, in time, should produce a typical Ecumenist “piety” and “spirituality.” In our day this seems to be happening at last, as the Ecumenical attitude of religious “expectancy” and “searching” begins to be rewarded by the activity of a certain “spirit” which gives religious satisfaction to the barren souls of the Ecumenist wasteland and results in a characteristic “piety” which is no longer merely Protestant in tone.
This book was begun in 1971 with an examination of the latest “Ecumenical” fashion—the opening of a “dialogue with non-Christian religions.” Four chapters on this subject were printed in The Orthodox Word in 1971 and 1972, reporting chiefly on the events of the late 1960s up to early 1972. The last of these chapters was a detailed discussion of the “charismatic revival” which had just then been taken up by several “Orthodox” priests in America, and this movement was described as a form of “Ecumenical spirituality” inclusive of religious experiences which are distinctly non-Christian in nature.
Especially this last chapter aroused a great deal of interest among Orthodox people, and it helped to persuade some not to take part in the “charismatic” movement. Others, who had already participated in “charismatic” meetings, left the movement and confirmed many of the conclusions of this article about it. Since then the “charismatic revival” in “Orthodox” parishes in America, judging from Fr. Eusebius Stephanou’s periodical The Logos, has entirely adopted the language and techniques of Protestant revivalism, and its un-Orthodox character has become clear to any serious observer. Despite the Protestant mentality of its promoters, however, the “charismatic revival” as a “spiritual” movement is definitely something more than Protestantism. The characterization of it in this article as a kind of “Christian” medinmism, which has been corroborated by a number of observers of it, links it to the new “Ecumenical spirituality” out of which is being born a new, non-Christian religion.
In the summer of 1974, one of the American monasteries of the Russian Church Outside of Russia was visited by a young man who had been directed to one of its monks by the “spirit” who constantly attended him. During his brief visit the story of this young man unfolded itself. He was from a conservative Protestant background which he found spiritually barren, and he had been opened up to “spiritual” experiences by his Pentecostalist grandmother: the moment he touched a Bible she had given him, he received “spiritual gifts”—most notably, he was attended by an invisible “spirit” who gave him precise instructions as to where to walk and drive; and he was able at will to hypnotize others and cause them to levitate (a talent which he playfully used to terrorize atheist acquaintances). Occasionally he would doubt that his “gifts” were from God, but these doubts were overcome when he reflected on the fact that his spiritual “barrenness” had vanished, that his “spiritual rebirth” had been brought about by contact with the Bible, and that he seemed to be leading a very rich life of prayer and “spirituality.” Upon becoming acquainted with Orthodoxy at this monastery, and especially after reading the article on the “charismatic revival,” he admitted that here he found the first thorough and clear explanation of his “spiritual” experiences; most likely, he confessed, his “spirit” was an evil one. This realization, however, did not seem to touch his heart, and he left without being converted to Orthodoxy.
How many such “barren Christians” there are in the world today! The “charismatic revival” seems to have been devised just for them. Others, however, are less attached to “Christianity,” and their spiritual unrest leads them to Eastern religions. For this reason a fifth chapter has been added to this book, describing three kinds of “Christian meditation” which also produce “spiritual” results which are very impressive to those who come from the lukewarmness of modern “Christianity.”
Shortly after the publication of the article on the “charismatic revival,” The Orthodox Word received a letter from a respected Russian Orthodox ecclesiastical writer who is well versed in Orthodox theological and spiritual literature, saying: “What you have described here is the religion of the future, the religion of Antichrist.” More and more, as this and similar forms of counterfeit spirituality take hold even of nominal Orthodox Christians, one shudders to behold the deception into which spiritually unprepared Christians can fall. This book is a warning to them and to all trying to live a conscious Orthodox Christian life in a world possessed by unclean spirits. It is not an exhaustive treatment of this religion, which has not yet attained its final form, but rather a preliminary exploration of those spiritual tendencies which, it would indeed seem, are preparing the way for a true religion of anti-Christianity, a religion outwardly “Christian,” but centered upon a pagan “initiation” experience.
May this description of the increasingly evident and brazen activity of satan, the prince of darkness, among “Christians,” inspire True Orthodox Christians with the fear of losing God’s grace and turn them back to the pure sources of Christian life: the spiritual doctrine of the Holy Fathers of Orthodoxy!
[1] Matt. 7:14—16, 21–14
by Saint Seraphim of Platina [†1982]
The Orthodox Word, Vol. 11, No. 1 (60), January-February 1975, pp. 16-18
Pas de commentaire